Major daily Tri-Cities flights canceled. United says the route wasn’t profitable enough

United Airlines will end its daily flights between the Tri-Cities and Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 5.

It began the service April 1.

As the Los Angeles flights are ending, the Tri-Cities can look forward to a new service from United later in 2020.

As previously reported, it plans to start nonstop service to Chicago O’Hare International Airport from the Tri-Cities on June 4.

Buck Taft, director of the Tri-Cities Airport, said he wished United could have given the L.A. flights more time.

“I think the demand was there, but they were not able to get the fare they needed,” said Buck Taft, director of the Tri-Cities Airport. “I’m really disappointed.”

Los Angeles remains an important market to the Tri-Cities Airport and it will continue to work on service to there, Taft said.

The nonstop service to Chicago starting in the spring will be the Tri-Cities first-ever nonstop connection there and the first-ever “red eye” flight for the airport in Pasco.

The addition came after United had success with re-eye flights between Chicago and two Oregon regional airports — Eugene and Bend/Redmond.

Tri-Cities Airport busy

The Chicago-bound flight will leave Pasco (PSC) at 11:30 p.m. and arrive in Chicago (ORD) at 5:07 a.m. The Pasco bound flight leaves O’Hare at 8 p.m. and arrives in Pasco at 9:57 p.m. local time.

When the Chicago flight starts it should boost the Tri-Cities Airport’s position as a gateway for air travelers.

Global hubs such as Los Angeles and Chicago serve as jumping off points to reach any destination in the world. Chicago is a major gateway to the East Coast, giving Tri-City travelers faster access to the East Coast.

The Tri-Cities Airport has nonstop service now to Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix-Mesa, San Francisco, Seattle and Salt Lake City. It also has seasonal service to Los Angeles.

“All flights are doing well,” Taft said.

The airport is on track to have a record busy year.

It should serve nearly 900,000 passengers by the end of the year, which would be 12 percent above 2018, which is the airport’s current busiest year on record.

This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 10:22 AM.